The third season of the American television series '' The Flash'', which is based on the

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...

character

Barry Allen / Flash Barry may refer to: People and fictional characters * Barry (name), including lists of people with the given name, nickname or surname, as well as fictional characters with the given name * Dancing Barry, stage name of Barry Richards (born c. 1950 ...

, a costumed superhero crime-fighter with the power to move at super speeds, follows Barry as he deals with the consequences of his decision to save his mother, which creates " Flashpoint", and the resulting emergence of a new foe in Savitar. It is set in the

Arrowverse The Arrowverse is an American superhero media franchise and a shared universe that is centered on various interconnected television series based on DC Comics superhero characters, primarily airing on The CW as well as web series on CW See ...

, sharing continuity with the other television series of the universe, and is a spin-off of '' Arrow''. The season was produced by Berlanti Productions,

Warner Bros. Television Warner Bros. Television Studios (operating under the name Warner Bros. Television; formerly known as Warner Bros. Television Division) is an American television production and distribution studio of the Warner Bros. Television Group division of ...

, and DC Entertainment, with

Andrew Kreisberg Andrew Kreisberg (born April 23, 1971) is an American television writer, producer and comic book writer. He is best known as the creator of the television series ''The Flash'', ''Arrow'', '' Supergirl'' and ''Legends of Tomorrow''. Personal life ...

Aaron and Todd Helbing Aaron Helbing and Todd Helbing are American sibling screenwriters who had formerly worked as a team. They are known for their work on the Starz series ''Spartacus'' and '' Black Sails'', and for The CW superhero drama '' The Flash''. They stop ...

serving as

showrunners A showrunner (or colloquially a helmer) is the top-level executive producer of a television series production who has creative and management authority through combining the responsibilities of employer and, in comedy or dramas, typically also the ...

. The season was ordered in March 2016, and production began that July, lasting until April 2017. Alongside

Grant Gustin Thomas Grant Gustin (born January 14, 1990) is an American actor and singer. He is best known for his roles as Barry Allen / The Flash on The CW series ''The Flash'' as part of the Arrowverse, and as Sebastian Smythe on the Fox series '' Gl ...

, who reprises his role as Barry Allen, principal cast members

Candice Patton Candice Kristina Patton is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Iris West-Allen in the television series ''The Flash'' (2014–2023), which earned her a Saturn Award from four nominations. Early life Patton was raised in Pl ...

Danielle Panabaker Danielle Nicole Panabaker (born September 19, 1987) is an American actress. She began acting as a teenager and came to prominence for her roles in the The Walt Disney Company, Disney films ''Stuck in the Suburbs'' (2004), ''Sky High (2005 film), ...

, Carlos Valdes,

Keiynan Lonsdale Keiynan Lonsdale (; born 19 December 1991) is an Australian actor, dancer, and singer-songwriter. He is known for roles such as Oliver Lloyd in the ABC series ''Dance Academy'' (2012–2013), Wally West/ Kid Flash in the CW series ''The Flash' ...

Tom Cavanagh Thomas Cavanagh (born October 26, 1963) is a Canadian actor. He is known for a variety of roles on American television, including starring roles in '' Ed'' (2000–2004), ''Love Monkey'' (2006) and '' Trust Me'' (2009), and recurring roles on ...

, and Jesse L. Martin return from the second season. The first episode of the season premiered on

The CW ''The'' () is a grammatical Article (grammar), article in English language, English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite ...

on October 4, 2016, and was watched by 3.17 million people, with the season consisting of 23 episodes. The series was renewed for a fourth season on January 8, 2017.

Episodes

Cast and characters

Main

and

Savitar Savitar may refer to: *Savitr, or Savitar, a Vedic solar deity associated with the Aditya class of divinities *Savitar (comics), a supervillain published by DC Comics *Savitar, a character from Sherrilyn Kenyon's Dark-Hunter series *''Savitar'', th ...

Iris West Iris West is a fictional character, a supporting character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. She has been the main love interest and later wife of Barry Allen, the alter ego of the Silver Age version of the superhero The ...

as Caitlin Snow / Killer Frost * Carlos Valdes as Cisco Ramon / Vibe *

as Wally West / Kid Flash *

as Harry Wells and H.R. Wells * Jesse L. Martin as Joe West

Recurring

John Wesley Shipp John Wesley Shipp (born January 22, 1955) is an American actor known for his various television roles. He played the lead Barry Allen on CBS's superhero series '' The Flash'' from 1990 to 1991, and Mitch Leery, the title character's father, on ...

as Henry Allen and Jay Garrick / Flash *

Tom Felton Thomas Andrew Felton (born 22 September 1987) is an English actor best known for playing Draco Malfoy in the film adaptations of the ''Harry Potter'' fantasy novels by J. K. Rowling. Born in Surrey, Felton began appearing in commercials and ...

as Julian Albert / Doctor Alchemy *

Tobin Bell Tobin may refer to: Name * Tobin (surname) * Tobin (given name) Places in the United States * Tobin, California * Tobin Bridge, near Boston, Massachusetts * Tobin Range, a mountain range in Nevada * Tobin Township, Perry County, Indiana * Tobi ...

voices Doctor Alchemy and

Violett Beane Violett Beane (born May 18, 1996) is an American actress. She played Jesse Wells/Jesse Quick in The CW's ''The Flash'', as well as Markie Cameron in the 2018 horror film ''Truth or Dare''. From 2018 to 2020, she starred as Cara Bloom in the CB ...

as Jesse Chambers Wells / Jesse Quick *

Danielle Nicolet Danielle Nicolet (born Danielle Diggs; November 24, 1973) is an American actress. She has made appearances on shows such as ''3rd Rock from the Sun'' (1996–2001), '' Second Time Around'' (2004–05), '' The Starter Wife'' (2008), '' Family Too ...

as Cecile Horton *

Andre Tricoteux Andre Tricoteux is a Canadian actor and stuntman, known for playing Colossus in ''Deadpool'' and Orc War Captain in ''Warcraft''. He has done stunt work on many TV and movies such as ''Once Upon a Time'', '' Seventh Son'', and ''See No Evil 2' ...

Jessica Camacho Jessica Lisa Camacho (born November 26, 1982) is an American actress. She is known for her recurring role as Gypsy in The CW superhero series '' The Flash''. Camacho also starred on the second season of the NBC drama series '' Taken''. Early ...

Gypsy The Romani (also spelled Romany or Rromani , ), colloquially known as the Roma, are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group, traditionally nomadic itinerants. They live in Europe and Anatolia, and have diaspora populations located worldwide, with sign ...

* Anne Dudek as Tracy Brand

Guest

Production

Development

In March 2016,

president Mark Pedowitz announced that ''The Flash'' was renewed for a third season, which was initially reported to be given a 22-episode order. However, writer

Brian Ford Sullivan Brian Ford Sullivan is an American television writer. He is known for his work on The CW superhero series ''Arrow''. Life and career He grew up, for the most part, in Chicago, Illinois. Sullivan founded the U.S. TV listing website ''The Futo ...

clarified that August that there would be 23 episodes.

served as the season's showrunners, while Zack Stentz, who wrote the season 2 episode "The Runaway Dinosaur", joined as consulting producer. He announced his exit from the series on February 1, 2017, and Aaron Helbing left in May 2017.

Writing

In June 2016,

confirmed that the season premiere would be titled "Flashpoint" and adapt elements from the comics storyline of the same name which showed Barry Allen traveling back in time to save his mother from being murdered, creating a new timeline in the process, though he later noted that "We're definitely doing this 'Flashpoint''thing our own way…. This will be its own thing." Gustin also revealed that the "Flashpoint" timeline of the series would not last for all of the third season, but that there would be "permanent ramifications".

Casting

Main cast members

, Carlos Valdes, Jesse L. Martin, and

returned from previous seasons as Barry Allen / The Flash,

Caitlin Snow Killer Frost is a name used by several female supervillains and superheroes appearing in comic books published by DC Comics: Crystal Frost, Louise Lincoln, and Caitlin Snow. Each different individual in the DC Universe assuming the Killer Frost ...

, Cisco Ramon, Joe West, and

Wally West Wallace Rudolph "Wally" West is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics as the original Kid Flash and the third Flash (DC Comics character), Flash. His power consists mainly of speedster (fiction), superhuman speed. ...

, respectively. Gustin also portrayed

, the season's

Big Bad Big Bad (abbreviated to BB or BBEG for ''big bad evil guy'') is a term to describe a major recurring adversary, usually the chief villain or antagonist in a particular broadcast season, originally used by the ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' televi ...

also returned as a regular, portraying the

Harrison Wells Harrison Wells is the name of several characters portrayed by Tom Cavanagh in The CW's Arrowverse franchise, primarily the television series ''The Flash''. The character, created by Geoff Johns, Greg Berlanti, and Andrew Kreisberg, is an orig ...

of Earth-19 who goes by "H.R". He also portrayed, in a less prominent capacity, "Harry" Wells of Earth-2, and several parallel universe versions of Wells as cameos: a hillbilly from an unspecified Earth, the Wells of Earth-17, and a French-speaking mime artist from another Earth.

joined the cast as Julian Albert, a fellow crime-scene investigator at the Central City Police Department. The character was originally known as Julian Dorn, and serves as the series' version of Doctor Alchemy. Rick Cosnett, who played

Eddie Thawne ''The Flash'' is an American television series developed by Greg Berlanti, Andrew Kreisberg, and Geoff Johns, based on the DC Comics character the Flash. The series premiered on The CW television network in the United States on October 7, 2014, ...

as a regular during season 1, was confirmed to make a guest appearance in the second part of the season, with no additional details given about his return. He was later revealed to be playing the Speed Force's manifestation of Eddie.

Design

Practical effects and costume for Savitar were created by

Legacy Effects Legacy Effects, LLC is an American special effects studio specializing in creature design, prosthetic makeup, animatronics, and specialty suits. History Founding partners Lindsay Macgowan, Shane Mahan, John Rosengrant, and Alan Scott supervised pr ...

. Kreisberg noted, "The suit's body lights were all practical, which I think was actually one of the hardest parts of the process. One light would go out and...Oh God, we'd be screwed!" The Killer Frost costume seen in the third season differs substantially from that seen in season two; while the earlier version was simply leather pants and a jacket, this one includes fishnets, thigh-high boots and a cape. The season introduces Wally West as Kid Flash, and the costume was designed to look exactly as in the comics. The Flash costume of the Barry Allen from 2024 was designed to look more sleek and form fitting than the present Barry's costume, and additionally features a more prominent yellow belt.

Filming

Production for the season began on July 6, 2016 in Vancouver. The episode "The Once and Future Flash" marked Tom Cavanagh's return to directing after a decade; he previously directed three episodes of the TV series '' Ed'' (2000–2004). Production concluded on April 22, 2017.

Music

All music composed by Blake Neely.

Arrowverse tie-ins

During the third season, ''The Flash'' was a part of the " Invasion!" crossover event with ''Arrow'' and ''Legends of Tomorrow''. The event also saw

Melissa Benoist Melissa Marie Benoist ( ; born October 4, 1988) is an American actress, singer and producer. Her first major role was Marley Rose on the Fox musical comedy drama '' Glee'' (2012–2014), where she was a series regular during the fifth season. ...

reprising her role as Kara Danvers / Supergirl from ''

Supergirl Supergirl is the name of several fictional superheroines appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The original, current, and most well known Supergirl is Kara Zor-El, the cousin of superhero Superman. The character made her fir ...

''.

Andrea Brooks Andrea K. Brooks (born March 3, 1989) is a Canadian actress and model best known for portraying Faith Carter on the Hallmark series ''When Calls the Heart'' and Eve Teschmacher in The CW series ''Supergirl''. Early life Born in Brantford, Ont ...

, who plays Eve Teschmacher on ''Supergirl'', briefly reprised her role in the episode "Dead or Alive". The ''Supergirl'' episode "Star-Crossed" ends with Music Meister (

Darren Criss Darren Everett Criss (born February 5, 1987) is an American actor, singer, and songwriter. He rose to fame starring on the television series '' Glee'' (2010–2015) and received Emmy and Golden Globe acting awards for his leading role as spree ...

) hypnotizing Kara on Earth-38 and fleeing to Earth-1 to do the same to Barry, thus initiating the events of ''The Flash'' season 3 episode " Duet". Benoist returned as Kara, as did ''Supergirl'' regulars Chris Wood,

David Harewood David Harewood MBE (born 8 December 1965) is a British actor and presenter. He is best known for his roles as CIA Counterterrorism Director David Estes in ''Homeland'' (2011–2012), and as J'onn J'onzz / Martian Manhunter and Hank Henshaw / ...

and Jeremy Jordan, along with ''Legends of Tomorrow'' regular

Victor Garber Victor Joseph Garber (born March 16, 1949) is a Canadian-American actor and singer. Known for his work in film, television, and theatre, he has been nominated for three Gemini Awards, four Tony Awards, and six Primetime Emmy Awards. He has also ...

and former ''Arrow'' regular

John Barrowman John Scot Barrowman (born 11 March 1967) is a Scottish-American actor, author, presenter, singer and comic book writer. He is known for his role as Captain Jack Harkness in ''Doctor Who'' and '' Torchwood'', and as Malcolm Merlyn in the Arrowv ...

Marketing

In July 2016, members of the cast as well as executive producers Todd Helbing and Aaron Helbing attended

San Diego Comic-Con San Diego Comic-Con International is a comic book convention and nonprofit multi-genre entertainment event held annually in San Diego, California since 1970. The name, as given on its website, is Comic-Con International: San Diego; but it is ...

to promote the season, where the first trailer for the season was released. The trailer showed first footage of Lonsdale as Kid Flash, The Rival, and Doctor Alchemy. A teaser promo titled "Time Strikes Back" was released on August 23, 2016, featuring John Wesley Shipp as Jay Garrick talking to Barry. The official poster for the season was released on September 20, 2016 starring Grant Gustin as Barry Allen sporting The Flash's iconic bright red suit with the tagline: "New Destinies. New Dangers." In September 2016, The CW released the promo "Superhero Fight Club 2.0" to promote the start of the 2016–17 season with the addition of ''Supergirl'' to their lineup, as well as their new mobile app, where the promo could exclusively be viewed initially. The new Superhero Fight Club sees Green Arrow, Flash, Atom, Firestorm, White Canary and Supergirl go up against a new fight simulator created by Cisco Ramon and Felicity Smoak, while Diggle and Martian Manhunter observe. After defeating the simulator, Cisco releases Grodd into the arena for the heroes to face. The analytics firm ListenFirst Media determined ''The Flash'' garnered the seventh most user engagement among broadcast shows, with 7.52 million total engagements from May 1 to August 30, 2016. ListenFirst analyzed fan growth, responses and conversation volume across Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr and Google+.

Release

Broadcast

The season began airing on October 4, 2016, on The CW in the United States, and on CTV in Canada, before moving to

CTV Two CTV 2 is a Canadian English-language television system owned by the Bell Media subsidiary of BCE Inc. The system consists of four terrestrial owned-and-operated television stations (O&Os) in Ontario, one in British Columbia and two regional ...

on February 28, 2017. The season ended on May 23, 2017.

Home media

In October 2016, it was announced that the season would be available for streaming on

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fi ...

eight days after the season finale, part of the new CW-Netflix deal. The five most recent episodes are available to stream for free on the new mobile CW app, instead of on Hulu like the previous two seasons. The season began streaming on Netflix on May 31, 2017, and was released on

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of st ...

and

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

in Region 1 on September 5, 2017.

Reception

Ratings

The season premiere was watched by 3.17 million people and had a 1.3 demo rating, slightly down from the second-season premiere and on par with its second-season finale. ''The Flash'' crossover episode, "Invasion!", saw a season three-high viewership of 4.15 million viewers, which was the show's largest since December 9, 2014, and a season three-high 18–49 rating, the highest since February 16, 2016. The third season finished as the 120th ranked show, with an average viewership of 3.50 million. In Canada, the season was the 9th most-watched series in the 18–49 demographic, 8th among adults 18–34, and 14th among adults 25–54 of the 2016–17 television season. In 2016, according to an analysis from Parrot Analytics, which used ratings data (where available), peer-to-peer sharing, social media chatter, and other factors to estimate viewer demand for various shows, ''The Flash'' was the 5th most popular show in the world with 3.1 million demand expressions per day, behind '' Game of Thrones'', '' The Walking Dead'', ''

Pretty Little Liars ''Pretty Little Liars'' is an American mystery teen drama television series based on the novel series of the same name written by Sara Shepard. Developed by I. Marlene King, the series was broadcast on Freeform between June 8, 2010, and June ...

'', and ''

Westworld ''Westworld'' is an American science fiction-thriller media franchise that began with the 1973 film ''Westworld'', written and directed by Michael Crichton. The film depicts a technologically advanced Wild-West-themed amusement park populate ...

''. From January to July 2017, ''The Flash'' was the 7th most popular show in the world with 5.47 million demand expressions per day. Parrot Analytics also noted that the popularity of the show did not slow down during the summer 2017 off-season, saying "It's consistently popular, similar to ''Game of Thrones'', and it appears to be growing in popularity."

Critical response

The

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

reported an 85% approval rating with an average rating of 7.14/10 based on 23 reviews. The website's consensus reads, "Taking its most compelling and emotionally resonant turn to date, ''The Flash'' shifts focus in its third season, turning from the grandiose and bizarre toward the characters who inhabit its core universe -- all while remaining action-packed, funny, and dramatic."

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 80 out of 100 based on 4 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Jesse Schedeen of

IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...

rated the season 7.8 out of 10, saying, "''The Flash'' met plenty of speed bumps in Season 3, but a strong finish helped the series persevere in the end."

Collider A collider is a type of particle accelerator which brings two opposing particle beams together such that the particles collide. Colliders may either be ring accelerators or linear accelerators. Colliders are used as a research tool in particl ...

Carla Day lauded the season finale, rating it four stars out of five, but gave the entire season a rating of three stars. J.C. Maçek III of ''

PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, fi ...

'' rated the season 7 out of 10, saying, "When the show stumbles, the overarching story arc of the season keeps things going and keeps us interested ..The show remains interesting and fun enough -- without being too lightweight -- to sustain another season and another cliffhanger."

Accolades

''The Flash'' was ranked 8th on '' The Salt Lake Tribune'' Top TV Shows of 2016 list.

Comic Book Resources ''Comic Book Resources'', also known by the initialism CBR, is a website dedicated to the coverage of comic book–related news and discussion. History Comic Book Resources was founded by Jonah Weiland in 1995 as a development of the Kingdom Co ...

named "Flashpoint" and "Invasion!" as the 7th and 16th, respectively, best episodes in 2016 among comic book-related television series.

SyfyWire Syfy (formerly Sci-Fi Channel, later shortened to Sci Fi; stylized as SYFY) is an American basic cable channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. Lau ...

named the season premiere, "Flashpoint" one of the best television episodes of 2016. , - ! scope="row" rowspan="1" , 2016 ,

TVLine ''TVLine'' is a website devoted to information, news, and spoilers of television programs. History In late 2010, ''Entertainment Weekly''s Michael Ausiello announced that he would be leaving ''EW'' after nearly two years in their employ to est ...

's Performer of the Week , Performance in "Flashpoint" ,

, , , - ! scope="row" rowspan="14" , 2017 ,

People's Choice Awards The People's Choice Awards is an American awards show, recognizing people in entertainment, voted online by the general public and fans. The show has been held annually since 1975, with the winners originally determined using Gallup Polls until ...

, Favorite Network TV Sci-Fi/Fantasy , ''The Flash'' , , , - ,

IGN Awards ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...

, Best Action Series , ''The Flash'' , , , - , IGN People's Choice Awards , Best Action Series , ''The Flash'' , , , - , Kids' Choice Awards , Favorite TV Show – Family Show , ''The Flash'' , , , - , TVLine's Performer of the Week , Performance in " Duet" ,

, , , - ,

MTV Movie & TV Awards The MTV Movie & TV Awards (formerly the MTV Movie Awards) is a film and television awards show presented annually on MTV. The first MTV Movie Awards were presented in 1992. The ceremony was renamed the MTV Movie & TV Awards for its 26th editio ...

, Best Hero , Grant Gustin , , , - , BMI Film, TV & Visual Media Awards , BMI Network Television Music Award , Blake Neely , , , - , rowspan="3",

Saturn Awards The Saturn Awards are American awards presented annually by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films. The awards were created to honor science fiction, fantasy, and horror in film, but have since grown to reward other films be ...

, Best Superhero Adaption Television Series , ''The Flash'' , ,
, - , Best Actor on Television , Grant Gustin , , , - , Best Supporting Actress on Television , Candice Patton , , , - , rowspan="4",

Teen Choice Awards The Teen Choice Awards is an annual awards show that airs on the Fox television network. The awards honor the year's biggest achievements in music, film, sports, television, fashion, social media, and more, voted by viewers living in the United ...

, Choice Action TV Show , ''The Flash'' , , , - , Choice Action TV Actor , Grant Gustin , , , - , rowspan="2" , Choice Action TV Actress , Candice Patton , , , - ,

, , , - ! scope="row" rowspan="1" , 2018 ,

Leo Awards The Leo Awards are the awards program for the British Columbia film and television industry. Held each May or June in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, the Leo Awards were founded by the Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Foundation of British C ...

, Best Visual Effects in a Dramatic Series , Armen V. Kevorkian, Marc Lougee, James Baldanzi, Andranik Taranyan, and Shirak Agresta (for "I Know Who You Are") , , , -

References

General references

* *

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Flash (season 3), The 2016 American television seasons 2017 American television seasons The Flash (2014 TV series) seasons